Small eggs

[Saundra4]

Is it normal for eggs to be small at first? My Easter edger is laying eggs and she just started. She is about 4 and a half months old. The other pellets I got with her have not started laying

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Yes they are often small at first and it might take up until they are a year old before the eggs get full sized.

 

[Susan Skylark]

You can also get huge double yolkers, soft shell, fairy eggs and a variety of oddball stuff with new layers. It is just the repro tract getting the kinks out. Though interestingly, I’ve found with quail that feeding a lower protein starter actually reduced my initial weird egg production. My first hatch (14 hens) was on 30 percent starter and started laying at 5 weeks, I was getting up to 30 percent weird eggs a day for about a month. My second hatch (4 hens) was on 21 percent protein feed and didn’t start laying until 7 weeks but I have not had a single weird egg. I wonder if the high protein pushes the bird into maturity and laying before the bird is physically ready resulting in weird eggs? Not that that is an issue in your case but I thought it interesting.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I wonder if the high protein pushes the bird into maturity and laying before the bird is physically ready resulting in weird eggs?

That's one reason commercial egg laying operations use lights and feed to delay the onset of lay. They want eggs that are more valuable when sold. Since the pullets' bodies are more mature they are less likely to have medical issues like prolapse.